Go to bed, freshmen!

One Bethel tradition is harmless to some and frustrating to others.

Tires screech and a horn blares. A car of Bethel students careen around freshman hill yelling, “Go to bed, freshmen!” The freshmen turn their heads. This is nothing new.

With the recent arrival of the class of 2020, upperclassmen have been taking the opportunity to partake in a tradition of driving through the streets encompassing three freshman residence halls, screaming phrases such as “go to bed.”

“You really get a rush being an upperclassman and driving around yelling at them just because you had to be there before,” junior Carson Field said. Field engaged in this tradition the night of Aug. 29 with a car full of friends. “It’s kind of nice taking it freshman year and then giving it back.”

“It is a little bit annoying,” an anonymous freshman from Edgren said. “I think as time goes on it may continue to be more intrusive on my sleep, but overall, I think that it’s a fairly small price to pay when you think about other college campuses that allow hazing.”

While some students do not appear to be upset, other students express concern.

“I just think it’s really stupid. I mean, I come to Bethel for a warm experience. It makes me feel like dirt,” sophomore Justice Chaffee said while reflecting on his freshman year experience.

Resident assistants living on the hill have also been upset.

“I also think it’s really disrespectful. No one ever thinks about the upperclassmen who are living in the freshman halls like the RAs who put in so much time and work,” senior Getsch RA Mya Kubik said.

While upperclass students living on the hill battle through regular “2 a.m. wake-up calls,” freshman Annie Goodyear shrugs her shoulders.